Grapeland Sidewalks Getting Facelift

By Greg Ritchie

Messenger Reporter

GRAPELAND – Grapeland City Manager Kevin Watts reported on the progress of a grant the city received to revamp some of the city’s sidewalks as part of a “Main Street Revitalization” program. The grant, totaling $500,000, will be used in three phases to redo sidewalks in the three main downtown blocks.

Watts had been walking downtown with representatives from engineering company KSA, in order to compare plans with the layout on the ground and coming up with the best plan for the city. He and the engineers were hammering out the new sidewalks, along with ramps for handicapped.

The first phase will be to install new sidewalks along Main Street from just south of Maple Street to Locust Street. The hope was to unveil the new sidewalks at this year’s Peanut Festival, but fears the work may not be done in time led to Watts postponing the project, until the festival ends. With no firm guarantee of a concrete completion time, Watts and city leaders did not want torn up sidewalks during the yearly festival. 

As the work progresses, electrical conduit will be run under the new sidewalks and special sections will be left along Main Street. The eventual goal is to be able to install decorative, perhaps historical-looking lighting along Main Street – something similar to downtown Nacogdoches. This would allow the city to remove the utility poles along the street, making the area more inviting for businesses and tourists – and locals, too. 

The sidewalk installation should be completed by Christmas, with the final project completed within two years. 

Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]